LEPAUTE DAGELET AT BOTANY BAY
(26 JANUARY-10 MARCH 1788) AND HIS
ENCOUNTER WITH WILLIAM DAWES1
IVAN BARKO
[Dagelet] wrote to me that at Botany Bay he had come across an English
astronomer furnished with instruments who was preparing to carry out
numerous observations and we may have the satisfaction of
corresponding with our Antipodes.
J6r6me Lalande2
Re-discovery of a Letter
On 25 May 2005 Katia Smith, who was researching William Dawes' obser
vatory at Port Jackson,3 visited the Mitchell Library in Sydney to examine
a manuscript letter dated 3 March 1788 written in French at Botany Bay by
the French astronomer Joseph Lepaute Dagelet and addressed to his British
counterpart Lieutenant William Dawes at Port Jackson.4
The manuscript was offered to the Library in November 1914 by
William Wesley and Son, booksellers and publishers, Essex Street, Strand,
London, apparently in the hope that the then Mitchell Librarian, Hugh
Wright, would instruct his staff to place orders for scientific books direct
with them, rather than through an agent. The letter must have originally
travelled to England with William Dawes in 1792, to end up 120 years later
with William Wesley and Son.5
There is no indication that anyone considered it to be of great inter
est or value. During the following ninety years it was neglected, rather
than completely forgotten. In his.scholarly compilation of 1962, Sydney
Cove 1788, John Cobley refers to it briefly6 and in 1989 it was micro
filmed for preservation purposes. In 1991 a Sydney-based French expatriate,
Mr Georges Mesnage, drew the attention of the Paris Observatory to this
manuscript and subsequently provided the Observatory with a partial tran
scription.
After Katia Smith's re-discovery of the letter the Library approached
me and asked me to transcribe the manuscript and translate it into English,
which I did in the following few weeks. Both the transcription and the trans
lation, together with a copy of the manuscript, were posted on the Library's
website.7
Three months later the opening page of the letter was featured in a
Lape'rouse exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales8 and subse-
22
Ivan Barko
quently the letter was included in the Library's on-line exhibition entitled
"Joie de vivre! The French in Australia".9 Thus, after almost a century of
neglect, the letter attracted an unusual amount of attention both in Australia
and in France in a very short time. In 2008, the manuscript, on loan from
the Mitchell Library, was featured in a major Laplrouse exhibition at the
Mus6e National de la Marine in Paris.10
Joseph Lepaute Dagelet before Botany Bay
Who was Joseph Lepaute Dagelet?
Joseph Lepaute was born on 25 November 17S1 in Thonne-la-Long,
near Montm6dy (Meuse, France), close to the present French-Belgian
border, son of Pierre Lepaute, a blacksmith, and Martine de Mozon." On
his baptismal certificate the surname appears as "Paute" but the forms Le
Paute, LePaute and Lepaute were more commonly used. His ancestors were
known as "Grosse Pote" or "Grosse Paute". It is a well-established fact
that the spelling of proper names was unstable under the antien rigime
and beyond, so that debates on which spelling is correct or incorrect are
generally futile.12 Joseph's uncles, who were clockmakers in Paris, had
made their reputation under the name "Lepaute"13 and therefore arguably
this variant is to be preferred.
The agnomen "Dagelet", by which Joseph Lepaute became known,
was taken from the name of a small country lane near his home town.14
The purpose of the assumed name was to distinguish him from other
Lepautes of his generation. Joseph Lepaute always spelt his agnomen as
"Dagelet" but others, including his astronomer patron, Jlrdme Lalande,
tended to prefer the aristocratic variant "d'Agelet".
Joseph's elder brother Dominique had been sent to the capital to
stay with his uncles, the clockmakers Jean-Andre" and Jean-Baptiste, to learn
their trade. He later returned home and started training his younger brother
in clockmaking. On 25 February 1768, at the invitation of Jean-Andreas
wife, ne'e Nicole-Reine-£table de la Briere, Joseph himself went up to Paris
to undertake the study of astronomy under Lalande, the future Director of
the Paris Observatory.
Madame Lepaute was an exceptional woman, an astronomer in
her own right, an occasional research assistant to Lalande, and an asso
ciate member of one of the provincial academies of science,11 as well as a
capable manager of her husband's business and a contributor to his text
books on clockmaking. Lalande was a part of the Lepaute household, a
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
23
friend of the husband but also an admirer of the wife both for her
intellectual gifts and her beauty. Lalande, who was a bachelor, and the
Lepautes, who had no children, treated young Dagelet as their adopted
son.16
The young man soon became Lalande's favourite disciple and he
made rapid progress as a practising astronomer. His first appointment was
to the Observatory of the College Mazarin in Paris, where Lalande had
practised previously.
In 1773, after five years at Mazarin, his mentor recommended that
he be appointed the astronomer on the 1773-1774 Kerguelen expedition
in the Indian Ocean, a venture in which the 23-year-old scientist acquitted
himself admirably both as an astronomer (observing longitudes, tides and
the variations of the needle)17 and in the management of difficult human
relations.
In recognition of his contribution to the Kerguelen expedition he
was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the £cole Militaire in Paris in
1777. In this capacity he taught Napoleon Bonaparte. According to Alexandre des Mazis, one of the classmates of "Buonaparte", Dagelet enjoyed
talking to his students about his voyages and was exceptionally interesting
to listen to.18
His "day job" as a teacher did not prevent him from pursuing his
astronomical observations at night, often well into the early hours of the
morning. He was privileged to have had a new observatory built for him at
the £cole Militaire, with the most up-to-date astronomical instruments.
Most of Dagelet's work was published in the Journal des savans
and in the Proceedings of the Academy. He also contributed to Lalande's
Connaissance des temps (1779) and his tphime'rides. He excelled in the
observation of planets and stars, especially the identification of previously
uncatalogued smaller stars, an area in which, with Lalande's encourage
ment, he became a specialist: in the words of his mentor "no one in Europe
has rendered greater service to astronomy than he has".19
Dagelet first stood for nomination to the Academy of Sciences in
1780. He came second in an election in 1782 and was chosen unanimously
in 1785, thus becoming its youngest Associate Member.
In the year of his election he was invited to join the Lap&ouse
expedition as the astronomer on the Boussole, whilst his colleague at the
Ecole Militaire, Louis Monge, somewhat junior to Dagelet, was to hold the
same position on the Astrolabe. (Health reasons forced Monge to leave the
expedition at Tenerife.) Although the Academy was free to select the most
24
Ivan Barko
suitable candidates, some external pressure appears to have been exerted
on its members in favour of Dagelet not only because of his gifts as an
astronomer but also for his youthful energy, his previous naval experience
and the "compatibility" of his character.
At first Dagelet hesitated to accept the commission, partly because
of his mixed memories of the Kerguelen expedition and partly because travel
around the world would mean the postponement of his marriage to his
cousin, Henriette Lepaute.20 Nor did he enjoy the rough manners and
speech of sailors:
In our trade as sailors we sing, swear, smoke, drink and speak of girls
all in the same half an hour; for me, as you know, my friend, the only
love I know is one veiled in modesty, I am pained by conversations in
which honour and courtesy are ignored.21
However, he eventually yielded to the combined entreaties of the Academy
and the Minister (the Mardchal de Castries) and joined the expedition. The
one condition he set (and this was not only accepted by the authorities
but also met by them after Dagelet's disappearance in the South Pacific)
was the provision of an annual pension of £750 to his parents if he failed to
return.22
His concern for his parents' well-being can also be ascertained from
a letter written at sea near Macao on 1 January 1787, in which he asked his
cousin Sully Le Paute to send his mother or his father some money every
year, in order that they should not have to go without the sweeteners that
alleviate the afflictions of old age ("a matter so important to my happi
ness"): "as you well know, dear cousin, 4 or 5 louts every year would add
the superfluous to the necessary".23 From Manila, three months later, he
confides to his friend Prevost that he is unable to rid himself of all the
painful reflections that arise again and again in his mind and grow every day
regarding everything that affects his family and friends.24
The Boussole and the Astrolabe left Brest on 1 August 1785. As
noted above, Monge, susceptible to sea sickness, was forced to leave the
expedition at Tenerife, and his duties were taken over by the captain of the
Astrolabe, Fleuriot de Langle, assisted by several officers who were intro
duced to the handling of scientific instruments and astronomical observa
tions, as had originally been intended in the royal instructions. Fleuriot de
Langle himself was to be killed by the natives at Tutuila in Western Samoa
in December 1787.
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
25
On the Boussole Dagelet was assisted by his student from the £cole
Militaire, Roux d'Arbaud (selected in preference, apparently, to Bona
parte).23 This choice was vindicated at every stage of the voyage. D'Arbaud
proved to be an invaluable assistant, constantly praised by both Dagelet and
Lapdrouse, and highly thought of by Lalande.26
In a letter to his mentor, written in September 1786, Dagelet de
scribed the expedition as the longest voyage ever recorded in history, and
one carried out "without harming a single being, whilst distributing pro
visions, instruments and assistance everywhere".27 This was consistent with
Louis XYTs dearest wish that not a single life be lost during the voyage.28
Once again Dagelet got on well with his fellow travellers and his
commander.29 Laperouse, who was impatient with ideologies, including
those of thsphilosophes, and who was constantly irritated by the very pres
ence, the aristocratic manner and the Rousseauist beliefs of the chevalier
de Lamanon,30 valued Dagelet's scientific and technical competence and
appreciated his lack of intellectual pretension. When the ships were in the
proximity of Korea, Laperouse named an island after Dagelet. (There is also
a Mount Dagelet in Alaska.)
Laperouse wrote to the Minister, saying that "among the hundred
excellent and lovable qualities [Dagelet] possesses, I know only one fault
he has, namely that of being in delicate health".31 Late in 1786, shortly be
fore the expedition's arrival in Macao, Dagelet became desperately ill. A
victim of scurvy, he expected to die within days and advised Lalande that
he would entrust his papers to "his friend d'Arbaud", who on his return to
France would pass them on to Lalande. To his mentor's delight Dagelet
recovered,32 although he did not ever regain his full strength. This was an
important factor in his condition during his six-week stay at Botany Bay.
On their way to Australian waters, at Tutuila, in Western Samoa,
on 11 December 1787, the French lost several of their companions, includ
ing, as we have seen, the commander of the Astrolabe, Fleuriot de Langle.
They were killed by the natives. The talented multi-skilled scientist Lamanon
was among their victims. This tragic event prompted Laperouse to harden
his attitude to natives:
I am a hundred times more angry against the philosophers who so
praise them as against the savages themselves. Lamanon, whom they
murdered, was telling me the day before he died, that these men were
worth more than us. A rigid follower of the King's instructions, I have
always behaved towards them with the utmost moderation; but I would
26
Ivan Barko
not undertake another campaign of this kind without asking for different
orders, and a navigator leaving Europe must consider them as enemies,
very weak ones, to be honest, whom it would be dishonourable to
eliminate, but whom one has the duty of forestalling if a feeling of
suspicion allows it in all fairness.33
Dagelet at Botany Bay
The French arrived at Botany Bay on 26 January 1788, just as
Captain Phillip was moving bis fleet to Port Jackson. Captain Hunter sent
a lieutenant and a midshipman to greet the French and offer them the
services of the English fleet. As Laperouse wrote in his diary, "all Euro
peans are countrymen at such a distance from their respective countries''.
Over the following six weeks the French and the British entertained
excellent relations: "No People could show more Attention, Respect &
Civility, than their Officers did to us", wrote Surgeon Worgan, "and we
were equally zealous in showing the like Dispositions towards them".34
However, the scarcity of supplies was such that beyond the customary
courtesies neither side was able to provide substantial material assistance
to the other.
The distance between the two camps, the French at Botany Bay and
the British at Port Jackson, was approximately fifteen kilometres and it
could be covered, not without difficulty, either by land or by sea. The route
by land went through what is now Centennial Park and followed the crest
above the coast down to Botany Bay.33
On 2 February Lieutenant Philip Gidley King and Lieutenant
William Dawes of the Marines visited the French fleet by sea. Even though
Laperouse did not meet Arthur Phillip in person, by now he had received
the visits of two future Governors of New South Wales, John Hunter and
Philip Gidley King. King and Dawes left the Sinus at 2 o'clock in the morn
ing and arrived on board the Boussole at 11 a.m. They stayed with the
French until 5 a.m. the following morning, having accepted an invitation
to dine with Laperouse and his officers, and reached the Sinus at 7 p.m. on
3 February, "having been obliged to row all the way against the wind and
a great swell".36
It was during this eighteen-hour stay at Botany Bay that Dagelet and
Dawes met, discovered their common interest in astronomy and exchanged
information and ideas on their work, future plans and cooperation. Dagelet
intended to visit Dawes at Sydney Cove in the following weeks to inspect
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
27
his colleague's instruments and view the progress of the observatory, but
his state of health prevented him from undertaking what promised to be an
arduous journey.
Dagelet's letter to Dawes emphasizes Lapeiouse's insistence that
his astronomer spare his forces for the voyage ahead of them, and should
anyone have thought that this might have been a mere excuse, Lalande's
account of the last of Dagelet's ten letters to him, all lost to posterity,
confirms the factual accuracy of the apology:
In his tenth and last letter, written on 1 March 1788 from Botany Bay
in New Holland, he wrote to me that he had received the visit of Mr
Doves [Dawes], an English astronomer, who was preparing to set up
an observatory and to whom d'Agelet's experience and advice were not
unuseful. He wanted to visit him in his turn at Port Jackson, but as one
had to follow a track where each traveller needed to cut his way
through mountains, cliffs, woods and marshes, La P6rouse thought his
weakened constitution would not withstand it. He himself thought that
before taking to die sea again, he should temper his astronomer's zeal.
We do not know whether his health was restored and whether it held
up as we have not received any subsequent news from this ill-fated
expedition.37
The expedition's six-week stay in Botany Bay was not the most
pleasant of its long journey. Writing to Condorcet in the latter's capacity as
Secretary of the Academy of Sciences on 6 February 1788, Dagelet com
plained bitterly of the innumerable insect bites mat made him almost blind
and, more importantly, of the expedition's difficult relations with the na
tives of the Botany Bay area. Lapeiouse, in his letter of 7 February 1788 to
Fleurieu, spells out the reasons for the problem:
I have a very good retrenchment set up here in order to store our new
longboats in safety, which are well advanced and will be usable by the
end of the month. These precautions were needed against the Indians
of New Holland who, although very weak and not numerous, are, like
all savages, very ill-natured and would set fire to our boats if they had
means of doing so. They threw spears at us one minute after receiving
our presents and signs of friendship.38
In stark contrast to the experience of other French explorers in
Australian waters, that of Laplrouse and his companions with Aborigines
28
Ivan Barko
was not a happy one. There were skirmishes between the two groups but
there is absolutely no evidence of any Aboriginal or French casualties. It is
difficult to determine whether the hostility of the indigenous population was
in reaction to the distrust of the French (possibly motivated by the tragic
incidents of Tutuila less than two months earlier) or some other specific
cause, but Dagelet's letter to Condorcet is brutally explicit in expressing his
opinion of indigenous Australians. This is all the more striking as the same
letter contains a lyrical description of the physical beauty and the skills of
the natives of Samoa and then* womenfolk, the very murderers of Langle,
Lamanon and several of their men.39
The expedition's camp was set up somewhere between the present
location of the guard tower (built in the early 1820s) and the southern end
of the sandy beach, near the location of the present Lap6rouse monument.
The decision to build the monument was made in 1825 on the initiative of
Captain Hyacinthe de Bougainville, during his stay in Sydney, with the
approval and support of the then Governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, but at
Bougainville's expense:
The monument Mr Ducamper and myself have had erected on behalf
of France, as simple in its design as the inscriptions engraved on it, is
located on the seashore, in the middle of the site occupied by Mr La
Peyrouse's camp. Sir Thomas granted me this spot and this is how we
happen to own a few Wises of a land where the French have explored
200 leagues of the coast.40
The French camp consisted of three main components: the boat
construction stockade, a garden ("the French garden" as the British called
it) and Dagelet's temporary observatory.41 The site was also described by
two French visitors from the Duperrey expedition in 1824 (on La Coquille),
Ren6 Primevere Lesson42 and Victor Lottin,43 as well as by Bougainville
himself, both in his published account of the voyage and in his unpub
lished diary.44 The traces of Laperouse's camp were still visible in 1824
and 1825. It is worth noting that both Lottin in 1824 and Bougainville in
1825 estimated the distance between Laperouse's 1788 camp and the re
cently erected gothic guard tower to be approximately 300 paces. The 18241825 descriptions indicate that the French camp was surrounded by a
primitive wooden hedge, to protect the boat builders from attacks by the
local Aborigines, and that the hedge itself was surrounded by trenches.
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
29
Contacts between the French and the British continued throughout
February and the early days of March. We know that Lieutenant Boutin
visited William Dawes' observatory site at Port Jackson and reported back
to Dagelet. The encounters between the French and the British are care
fully documented in Alec Protos' short but invaluable study The Road to
Botany Bay.*5 The French regularly returned escaped convicts to the British
at Port Jackson although an unconfirmed and dubious tradition has it that
two convicts, Peter Paris (of French background) and a female convict, Ann
Smith, left with the French and eventually met the same fate as the rest of
the expedition.
The French sailed from Botany Bay on 10 March 1788. Before thendeparture both Lap6rouse and Dagelet entrusted correspondence to the
British (in the case of Dagelet, to Dawes personally) and we know that even
tually these letters reached their addressees in Europe. Dagelet's letter to
Dawes, written a week before the French left Botany Bay and two days after
his final letter to Lalande, was almost certainly his last.
After Botany Bay
It is highly likely that on their way home the expedition visited New
Caledonia, probably in the second half of May,46 before being caught in a
tropical storm at Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands. We have no reliable
dating for this tragedy but it is likely to have occurred in June 1788.
It would appear that the men on the first of the two French ships
died instantly in the shipwreck, whilst those on the second ship, who fol
lowed in a vain attempt to rescue their comrades, survived for some time.
It is likely that some of the survivors died as victims of the then cannibalistic
local natives.
The existence of these two distinct shipwreck sites, the first at a
great depth and the second much closer to the surface, is not in doubt, but
evidence as to the identity of the two ships has been questioned. The most
likely hypothesis remains that the Boussole, with both Lap6rouse and Le
paute Dagelet on board, was wrecked first and is lying on the deep water
site, whilst the Astrolabe's crew survived longer.
The traces of the expedition were first discovered by Peter Dillon
(on the Research) in 1827 when he visited the Solomon Islands and noticed
objects of French origin in the possession of the natives. His enquiries led
him to one of the Vanikoro shipwreck sites (the one nearer the water's sur
face) where he recovered four small cannons. In 1828 Dumont d'Urville
30
Ivan Barko
(on the new Astrolabe) purchased further objects from the local natives and
collected some from the same shipwreck site. He was followed in the same
year by Legoarant de Tromelin (on the Bayonne), and fifty-five years later,
in 1883, by Benier (on the Bruat).
There was no further activity on the sites until the second half of
the twentieth century when, in 1958, on the initiative of the New Hebrides
French High Commissioner, Pierre Anthonioz, underwater diver Reece
Discombe, a New Zealander, began to explore the area. In the same year
another diving expedition was led by Haroun Tazieff. The deeper site was
formally identified by Reece Discombe in 1962, although workers from the
Kaori Timber Co. diving in the area had recovered objects from this site as
early as 19S8. In 1964 several expeditions surveyed the Vanikoro sites,
assisted by the French Navy, but the latter pulled out of the project at the
end of that year. In 1976 Banyul (on the Bayonnaise) conducted another
expedition.
A new period in the underwater exploration of the Vanikoro sites
began in 1981 with the involvement of the Noumea-based Solomon Asso
ciation led by Alain Conan, who has been a key figure in all the subsequent
expeditions. In 1986 the Solomon Association combined with the arche-
ologists of the Queensland Museum (Ron Coleman and Scott Sledge) to
carry out a highly significant expedition, followed in 1990 by another joint
French-Australian venture, this time in cooperation with the Australian
Institute for Maritime Archeology (Nicholas Clark).47
Later explorations were held in 1999, 2003 and 2005, and another
one is due to take place in September-October 2008. These expeditions are
the result of cooperation between the Solomon Association in Noumea and
the Underwater Archeological Research Section of the French Ministry of
Culture (DRASSM, "DSpartement des Recherches archfologiques sous-
marines"), as well as, at least since 2003, the French Navy.48
For an assessment of the scientific work carried out by Dagelet and
others during the Lap6rouse expedition, the recovery of instruments or frag
ments of instruments at Vanikoro over the years has been highly significant.
Possibly the most important of these is the quadrant by Langlois which was
on loan to Dagelet from the Paris Observatory (fragments of this instrument
were found in 1964, 1986 and 1999). Other important instruments brought
up from the Vanikoro sites include two telescopes, one by Nairn & Blunt
(1964 expedition) and the other by Dollon (1976 expedition), and a graphometer recovered in 1999. (Another graphometer found on land in Noumea
in the nineteenth century has been used as evidence that Lapgrouse called in
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
31
at New Caledonia after his stay at Botany Bay on his way to the Solomon
Islands.)
In 2003 a skeleton in an excellent state of preservation was found
at the deep water site, with a further fragment (a foot) recovered in 2005.
Given the good condition of the teeth, the quality of some buttons and other
objects including fragments of scientific instruments found near the skeleton,
as well as the location of the find, it was thought that the skeleton must
be that of an officer or a scientist in his thirties, such as Lepaute Dagelet.
With the cooperation of descendants of the Lepaute family, plans have been
made for a DNA analysis to establish the identity of the skeleton, although
the latest studies suggest that it might well be that of a man a few years
younger than the then 37-year-old Lepaute Dagelet.
Dagelet's Contribution to Science49
Dagelet's letter of 3 March 1788 to William Dawes included a set
of geographic coordinates for the temporary observatory that he had set up
on the northern shore of Botany Bay. These coordinates, calculated by
Dagelet and his assistant d'Arbaud, were made using not only Lalande's
lunar and astronomical tables (to which Dagelet had been a contributor)
but also a number of previously travelled and historically significant in
struments such as the quadrant by Langlois (recovered from Vanikoro), a
meridian telescope by Rochon, La Condamine's invariable pendulum, three
astronomical pendulum clocks by Lepaute and a number of other state-of-
the-art instruments such as reflecting circles designed by Borda and Englishmade sextants.
The survival of the geographic measurement at Botany Bay has
opened a small but important window onto the quality and importance of the
scientific work of the Lapgrouse expedition, an aspect of its achievements
on which little has been written. The great tragedy of the expedition, apart
from the terrible fatalities, was the almost total loss of the scientific records,
most of which were kept in the onboard journals of the scientists or in their
stored collections. Following his instructions from King Louis XVI, Lap6-
rouse insisted that the scientists on his two ships refrain from forwarding
records of their experiments and reports on their work as they became grad
ually available. He intended to publish them collectively on the expedition's
return to France. As a result these records and reports perished in the ship
wrecks at Vanikoro.
32
Ivan Barko
Using the evidence from Dagelet's letter and researching other
surviving documents such as the inventories drawn up on the eve of the
expedition's departure from Brest in 1785, the lists of instruments and
fragments of instruments recovered from the Vanikoro shipwreck sites in
the last half a century (i.e. since 1958), private and official correspondence
by members of the expedition and others, and last but not least the short
professional biography of Lepaute Dagelet written by his mentor J6rdme
Lalande (last published in 1803), it is now possible to reconstitute some of
the scientific achievements of the Lap6rouse expedition, including Dagelet's
geodetic observations at Botany Bay, specifically the measurement of timed
oscillations of a pendulum. Although the results of this experiment have not
come down to us, this measurement appears to have been the first formal
scientific experiment carried out on Australian soil.
There is little doubt that the Vanikoro shipwreck prevented Dagelet
from fulfilling his scholarly promise: there is every indication that had
he lived, he would have been a major figure in the history of French
astronomy.
Conclusion
More than anyone else, Lalande was aware of both Dagelet's
potential as an astronomer and the significance of his work during the
expedition, the results of which perished with him:
[La P6rouse's voyage] around the world was meant to provide
astronomy with new knowledge through d'Agelet's observations. For
example, the observations of the pendulum in the Southern hemi
sphere, which I specially recommended to him and which he informed
me he had carried out in New Holland, would have been able to tell us
whether there was a difference in density between the two hemispheres
of the globe: but these observations are lost. He wrote to me that at
Botany Bay he had come across an English astronomer furnished with
instruments who was preparing to carry out numerous observations and
we may have the satisfaction of corresponding with our Antipodes.50
Lalande's comment on the encounter with Dawes highlights Dagelet's plans
and ambitions and the importance he attached to his future collaboration with
his counterpart in the Southern hemisphere.
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
33
Incidentally, there are striking similarities between the patronage of
Dawes by Maskelyne, the Royal Astronomer, and Lalande's patronage of
Dagelet. Dagelet was conscious of his privileged background—not in terms
of money or rank but because of his education and the support he had
received from his family, his colleagues, the authorities and mainly from his
mentor. That mentor was deeply aware of his share of responsibility in
Dagelet's demise:
All the sciences have always had their martyrs whose zeal and courage
prompted them to face danger and death and who became their victims.
Astronomy provides several examples of this but Dagelet is the most
recent one and the most deserving of our regrets, especially mine, as
I had been responsible for calling him to the discipline of astronomy
and allowing him to run risks which I could have averted for him.31
In fact, in his letters to his friend Prevost Dagelet revealed how much he
would have preferred the scholarly peace of his Paris observatory and the
company of those dear to him in the warmth of a home to all the excitement
of the greatest of voyages: "Do you realize that the end of our voyages
approaches and that it is possible that towards the end of the year we will
be together? Then, and then only, will we talk about voyages, a most agree
able topic to discuss by the fireside. "S2 Vanikoro put an end to his dreams,
as well as to his ambitions as a scientist.
While for 220 years Lepaute Dagelet remained a half-forgotten
figure, the re-discovery of his letter to Dawes seems to have created a new
interest in the man and his career,33 and an impetus for researchers both
in France and Australia to explore his life and his contribution to science.
University of Sydney
Notes
1.
This paper is one of several arising from research conducted over a substantial
period of time in cooperation with Doug Morrison of Sydney (on Lepaute
Dagelet's scientific achievements) and Claude Parent of L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer,
France (on Lepaute Dagelet's biography). My thanks and appreciation go to
both for their enthusiasm, their scholarship and their ready willingness to share
knowledge. I also wish to thank Katia Smith for providing the original impetus
for this project. Finally, I acknowledge my debt to those scholars and profes
sionals who assisted with the transcription and the interpretation of Lepaute
34
Ivan Barko
Dagelet's letter to William Dawes. They include, in France, Mme Laurence
Bobis, Chief Librarian of the Paris Observatory, and Mme H61ene Richard,
Director of the Department of Maps and Plans at the National Library of
France, and, in Australia, Barbara Barko, Case Bosloper, Joe Doyle, Edward
Duyker, Mark Morrison and Wayne Johnson. Translations of quotations are
mine, unless otherwise indicated. The original French is quoted, sometimes
more fully than the English language version, in the corresponding endnotes.
2.
Joseph Jlrdme Le Francais de Lalande, Bibliographie astronomique, avec
Vhistoire de Vastronomie depute 1781 jusqu'a 1802, Paris, Imprimerie de la
Republique, 1803, p. 686. ("II m'ficrivit qu'il avait trouvg a la baie Botanique
un astronome anglais, muni d'instrumens et se prgparant a faire beaucoup
d'observations, et nous aurons peut-£tre la satisfaction de correspondre avec
nos antipodes.")
3.
Katia Smith, " '... Not always visible to mortal eyes ...': An Account of the
Astronomy of William Dawes, 1787-1791", Major Project for HET-612,
Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Tech
nology, Supervisor: Chris Fluke, 2004.
4.
It is located under the shelf number "CY1414 zAd49, Dawes, William".
5.
We owe this information to Paul Brunton, Senior Curator at the Mitchell
Library, who kindly investigated the history of the manuscript for the purposes
of this study.
6.
John Cobley, Sydney Cove 1788, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1962, p. 95.
7.
See:
http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=ad49/al297
;thumbs=l. The spelling "Donis" for "Dawes" in the transcript and the
translation on the Library's website should be corrected to "Doves", Lepaute
Dagelet's spelling of Dawes' name.
8.
Exhibit 91, "Any News of La P&ouse?", an exhibition curated by Avryl Whitnail. State Library of New South Wales, August to October 2005.
9.
See:http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/society_art/french/.Infact
"Joie de vivre! The French in Australia" itself was an on-line re-working of an
earlier (2004) physical exhibition at the State Library of NSW entitled "Vive
la difference! The French in New South Wales".
10.
"Le Mystere Laperouse, enquete dans le Pacifique Sud", Musee National de
la Marine, Palais de Chaillot, 19 March 2008-20 October 2008.
11.
The main sources for this biographical sketch are Lepaute Dagelet's surviving
letters; Lalande, op. cit., especially pp. 707-713 and p. 686; Gabriel-Joseph
Lepaute, Notice sur lafamide Lepaute qui s 'est distinguie dans I'horlogerie et
les sciences, Paris, Paul Dupont, 1869; "Notice [...] sur Le Paute Dagelet,
membre de l'Acadgmie des Sciences, astronome de l'expldition Lap6rouse",
Bulletin de la SocUti de Giographie, Paris, 7th series, K, 1888, pp. 293302; and last but not least Claude Parent's invaluable on-line booklets Pour
I'amour du del—La Vie aventureuse de Joseph Lepaute Dagelet, astronome
et compagnondeLapirouse, L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer (France), 2006 and Lepaute
Dagelet vu par VAustraUe— Un homme de reason et d'esprit, martyr de la
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
35
science, L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer (France), 2008, both of which can be accessed
at: http://lepaute.fonimculture.net/portal.htm. The second of these booklets
reproduces the full transcripts of documents of difficult access such as
Lalande's account of Lepaute Dagelet's life and career and the latter's sur
viving correspondence.
12.
This applies to the passionate discussions regarding which of the spellings
Laperouse or La Perouse is correct. Rightly or wrongly I have opted for the
spelling Laperouse himself used in his signature.
13.
See Lalande, p. 707.
14.
See Claude Parent, Pour Vamour du del, p. 8.
15.
Beziers, elected in 1761 (see Gabriel-Joseph Lepaute, op. cit., p. 8). On
Nicole-Reine Lepaute, see Elisabeth Badinter, "Un couple d'astronomes:
Jerdme Lalande et Reine Lepaute", Bulletin de la Sociiti archiologique,
scientifique et Uttiraire de Betters, 10th series, I, 2004-2005, pp. 71-76, and
Guy Boistel, "Nicole-Reine Lepaute et l'hortensia", http://www.ac-nice.fr/
clea/hinap/html/Transits/TransitsRecre2.html and also in Cahiers Clairaut,
n° 108, 2004.
16.
The theory of Lalande's ambivalent feelings for Mme Lepaute and the complex
triangular relationship between husband, wife and the platonic lover are
explored by Elisabeth Badinter, op. cit.
17.
See Lalande, p. 708. ("D'Agelet y observa assidument les longitudes, les
marees, les variations de l'aiguille, &c. comme on peut le voir dans le Journal
des savans de juin 177S, et dans les Memoires de l'Acad6mie pour 1788; il
rapporta meme des plantes rares de ce voyage, n etait desespere de ne pouvoir
en rapporter des observations astronomiques et geographiques; et il en aurait
fait beaucoup, si Kerguelin ne lui en eut pas dte le temps et les moyens: aussi
Kerguelin fut-il juge et condamne a son retour.")
18.
"MM. Dagelet et Monge, deux homines distingues etaient nos professeurs, M.
Dagelet [...] avait de l'esprit, de 1'instruction et aimoit beaucoup a raconter
ses voyages, il nous inteiessait infiniment lorsqu'il nous parloit." Quoted by
Paul Bartel, La Jeunesse inidite de NapoUon d'apres de nombreux documents,
Paris, Amiot Dumont, 1954, p. 257 (Appendice II).
19.
Lalande, p. 709. After his participation in the 1773-1774 Kerguelen expedition
in the Indian Ocean, Dagelet authored a paper on the inclinations of the
magnetic needle entitled "Observations faites dans un voyage aux terres
australes en 1773 et 1774 [sur les inclinaisons de l'aiguille aimantee]" (listed
in Histoire de VAcadimie des sciences avec les mimoires de mathimatiques et
de physique, 1788, pp. 487-503, according to the catalogue of the Conser
vatoire des Arts et Metiers (Paris), BMotheque et Centre d'histoire des
techniques, n° 861.) In 1780 he presented his observations on the planets and
stars to the Academy of Sciences and in 1783 he published a paper on Venus's
aphelion (a point in its orbit when a planet is at its greatest distance from the
sun). The last two papers are listed in Nouvelk biographie giniraie, Paris,
Firmin Didot freres, 1852.
36
Ivan Barko
20.
As Dagelet perished in the Vanikoro shipwreck in 1788, the marriage did not
take place.
21.
"Dans [le] m6tier de marin on chante, on jure, on fume, on boit et Ton parle
de filles dans la meme demi heure; pour moi vous le sav6s, mon cher ami, je
ne connais l'amour que lorsqu'il se cache sous le voile de la pudeur, je souffre
sans cesse de ces sortes de conversations ou Ton respecte bien peu l'honneur
et la delicatesse." Letter of 5 April 1787 from Manila to his friend and Military
School colleague PreVost, reproduced as an appendix to Gabriel-Joseph
Lepaute, op. cit., pp. 41-43.
22.
Lalande, p. 711. ("II demanda settlement, pour son pere et sa mere, une
pension de 750 livres, dans le cas ou il ne reviendrait point; la Convention
rationale la leur assura, sur le rapport du C.ra Jard-Panvilliers, qui prit a
cette affaire I'int6r£t qu'inspire a un citoyen £clair£ tout ce qui a rapport aux
sciences, quoique l'esprit de justice dont il est animd n'eut pas besoin de ce
nouveau motif.")
23.
Letter to Sully Lepaute, at sea, 1 January 1787. ("C'est de vouloir bien avoir
soin de faire passer a ma mere ou a mon pere une somme annuelle comme
vous le jugeres a propos, pour qu'ils puissent n'avoir besoin d'aucunes des
douceurs qui peuvent soullager et alttger les maux de la vieillesse. J'avais pri6
M. Monge de vous en parler avec detail, mais helas je suis toujours dans le
doute sur une chose bien importante a mon bonheur; vous savez bien, mon cher
cousin, que 4 ou 5 louis par an ajoute l'aisance au necessaire.")
24.
Letter to Prevost from Manila, 5 April 1787. ("Je partirais pourtant tres bien
portant de Manille, si Ton pouvait me gu6rir de l'ennui que me cause une
campagne dont on ne voit le terme que dans un dloignement infini, et surtout
si Ton pouvait dter de ma tfite toutes les inflexions pdnibles qui renaissent et
qui s'accroissent chaque jour sur tout ce qui touche ma famille et mes amis.")
25.
There has been considerable speculation on how world history would have been
affected if Napoleon Bonaparte, instead of Roux d'Arbaud, had been selected
to participate in the tragic Laperouse expedition.
26.
"M. Darbaud a [...] parfaitement seconds M. Dagelet, et je suis persuade1 qu'il
n'est peut-Stre en France aucun jeune homme de son age aussi instruit que lui."
(Laperouse to the Marechal de Castries, 25 September 1787, in M. L. A.
Milet-Mureau, Voyage de La Pirouse autour du monde, Paris, Plassan, 1798,
IV, p. 222.) Dagelet and d'Arbaud worked very well together. Dagelet always
spoke of his assistant with great warmth and had complete confidence in his
ability.
27.
From his letter of 22 September 1786 to Lalande, quoted by Lalande, op. cit.,
p. 711. ("Jamais vaisseau [...] n'a passe" autant de temps en mer. La France
pourra se glorifier d'avoir fait le plus grand voyage dont Phistoire fasse men
tion, sans faire de mal a un seul fitre, et en r£pandant par-tout des subsistances,
des instrumens, et des secours.")
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
28.
37
Royal instructions, as recorded in Milet-Mureau, I, p. 49. ("Sa Majeste regarderait comme un des succes les plus heureux de l'expedition, qu'elle put
Stre terminee sans qu'il en eut coutf la vie a un seul nomine.")
29.
"No one could be better educated or more friendly", said Laperouse, who
found him "charming" but he added, somewhat surprisingly: "I only fear that
he might be a little lazy". ("[...] je crains settlement qu'il ne soit un peu
paresseus [...]; d'ailleurs, on ne peut etre ni plus mstruit ni plus aimable.")
Archives nationales. Mar. 3JJ 386, fol. 174 v°, quoted by Catherine GazieUo,
L'Exptdition de Lapirouse 1785-1788: Riplique frangaise owe voyages de
Cook, Paris, C.T.H.S. (Comite des Travaux historiques et scientifiques),
1984, p. 196. No other evidence for this view has so far been produced, unless
this is a variant of Laperouse's assessment that Dagelet did not enjoy good
health. There are also several references in Laperouse's journals to the assis
tance Dagelet received not only from Roux d'Arbaud but also from other
members of the expedition.
30.
Laperouse failed to appreciate the broad intellectual interests of this multi-
31.
skilled scientist who died in 1787 in the Tutuila massacre at the hands of the
"noble savages" he so much admired.
Letter to the Marechal de Castries, from the Bay of Avatcha at Kamchatka,
25 September 1787: see Milet-Mureau, IV, p. 2S2. ("Parmi cent bonnes et
aimables qualites, je ne lui connais que le ddfaut d'avoir une sante tresd61icate.")
32.
Letter to Lalande dated 29 December 1786, quoted in Lalande, p. 712. ("Je
suis abime' [...] par le scorbut; je me sens pres de ma fin: j'e'tais trop faible
pour une campagne aussi terrible que celle-ci. Souvenez-vous de moi; mon ami
d'Arbaud vous remettra mes papiers, &c".
33.
Letter to Fleurieu from Botany Bay, 7 February 1788, translated by John Dun-
more. See The Journal ofJean-Francois de Galaup de la Pirouse 1785-1788,
edited and translated by John Dunmore, London, The Hakluyt Society, 1995,
JJ, p. 540. ("Je suis cependant mille fbis plus en colere contre les philosophes
qui exaltent tant les sauvages, que contre les sauvages eux-memes. Ce mal-
heureux Lamanon, qu'ils ont massacre, me disait, la veille de sa mort, que ces
hommes valaient mieux que nous. Rigide observateur des ordres consigned
dans mes instructions, j'ai toujours us6 avec eux de la plus grande moderation;
mais je vous avoue que si je devais faire une nouvelle campagne, je demanderais d'autres ordres. Un navigateur, en quittant l'Europe, doit considerer les
sauvages comme des ennemis, tres-faibles a la vdrite, qu'il seraitpeu genereux
d'attaquer sans motif, qu'il serait barbare de detruire, mais qu'on a le droit de
preVenir lorsqu'on y est autorisd par de justes soupfons.") See Milet-Mureau,
IV, p. 267.
34.
George B. Worgan, Journal of a First Fleet Surgeon, Sydney, The Library
Council of New South Wales in association with the Library of Australian
History, 1978, quoted in Alec Protos, The Road to Botany Bay: The Story of
Frenchmans Road Randwick through the Journals ofLaptrouse and the First
38
IVAN BARKO
Fleet Writers, Randwick, Randwick and District Historical Society, 1988,
p. 13.
35.
36.
See Alec Protos, op. cit.
The Journal of Lieutenant [afterward Governor] King, in F. M. Bladen, ed.,
Historical Records of New South Wales, vol. 2, quoted in Protos, p. 17.
37.
Lalande, p. 713. ("Dans sa dixieme et derniere lettre, ecrite le 1." mars 1788,
de la baie Botanique, dans la nouvelle Hollande, il m'ecrivait qu'il avait eu la
visite de M. Doves, astronome anglais, qui preparait un observatoire, et a qui
l'experience et les conseils de d'Agelet ne furent pas inutiles. n voulait aller
le voir a son tour au port Jackson: mais comme il fallait suivre des chemins ou
chaque voyageur est oblige de se frayer un passage au travers des montagnes,
des precipices, des bois et des marais, La Perouse crut que sa faible consti
tution n'y rfisisterait pas; et au moment de se remettre en mer, il crut devoir
rdprimer ce zele d'astronome. Nous ignorons si sa sant£ se reiablit et se soutint, puisque nous n'avons pas re$u de nouvelles ult6rieures de cette malheureuse expedition.")
38.
Lapftouse to Fleuriot, letter of 7 February 1788, translated by John Dunmore
in The Journal of Jean-Francois de Galaup de la Pirouse, JJ, pp. S39-S4O.
("J'ai fait a terre une espece de retrenchement palissade, pour y construire en
surete de nouvelles chaloupes: ces constructions seront achev&s a la fin du
mois. Cette precaution fitait necessaire contre les Indiens de la nouvelle
Hollande, qui, quoique tres-faibles et peu nombreux, sont, comme tons les
sauvages, tres-mechans, et bruleraient nos embarcations s'ils avaient les
moyens de le faire et en trouvaient une occasion favorable: ils nous ont Ianc6
des zagaies apres avoir recu nos presens et nos caresses.") See Milet-Mureau,
IV, pp. 266-267.
39.
40.
Letter reprinted in La Geographic LXDC, 2, 1938, pp. 112-114.
Hyacinthe de Bougainville in his 1826 report to the Minister for Navy, Jean-
Andre de Chabrol de Crouzol, quoted by Francois Bellec, Les Esprits de
Vanikoro: Le Mystere Lapirouse, Paris, Gallimard, 2006, p. 38. ("Le monu
ment que M. Ducamper et moi avons fait dlever au nom de la France, aussi
simple dans son plan que les inscriptions qui y sont gravees, est pos6 sur le
bord de la mer, au milieu de l'emplacement qu'occupait le camp de M. de La
Peyrouse. Sir Thomas m'a fait la concession de ce lieu et c'est ainsi que nous
nous trouvons possgder quelques toises d'une terre dont les Francais ont
explore plus de deux cents lieues de cdte.")
41.
The suggestion in Francois Bellec's Les Esprits de Vanikoro: Le Mystire
Lape'rouse, p. 37, that Dagelet's observatory is likely to have been set up on
the present site of the tower on the top of the hill is an interesting hypothesis.
An alternative view is that Dagelet wanted his observatory tent to be closer to
the rest of the French camp and less exposed to the winds. We know that at
Monterey, in California, he set up his tent on the beach.
Lepaute Dagelet at Botany Bay
42.
39
"Comme Francais, comme voyageurs, nous d&irions payer notre tribut de
regret en visitant le point oil le cllebre et malheureux Lape'rouse terivit les
dernieres depeches qui sont parvenues en Europe, dans le campement qu'il
eiablit a la pointe nord de Botany-bay. C'est la qu'il avait 6tabli un jardin ou
il sema des plantes rafratchissantes pour son equipage affaibli par les mala
dies. Les Anglais ont respecte* ce coin de terre, qui porte panni eux le nom de
Jardin francais, et ce jardin aujourd'hui en partie en friche, forme de sables de
bruyere, donne quelques legumes aux soldats qui resident dans une petite tour
bade a peu de distance sur une des pointes de la baie. Les arbres fruitiers y
sont morts et ne peuvent y prendre racine, battus qu'ils sont par les vents de
mer. Les 6pb£meres se sont empare's de la majeure partie de sa surface, comme
un embleme du vain travail des hommes. Une mauvaise haie de bois encldt
ce terrain que le gouverneur Macquarie avait le projet de faire enceindre de
murailles." R. P. Lesson, Voyage autour du monde: entrepris par ordre du
gouvernement sur la corvette La CoquiUe, Paris, P. Pourrat fibres, 2 vols,
1839, n, pp. 267-268.
43.
"C'est une belle tour en gres, bitie sur la pointe Nord de la baie. Elle n'a
aucun canon ni retranchement, et est uniquement destined a servir de logement
a la garnison consistant alors en un caporal et deux soldats. Ds nous recurent
fort honnetement et nous offrirent un beau morceau de viande salde et de l'eau
fratche. Nous leur demandames a tout hasard s'ils avaient connaissance du
tombeau francais aux environ de leur fort. Le caporal, dont un pr£d6cesseur
dtait restd plusieurs annees a cet endroit, nous conduisit a une portee de fusil
de la tour, et nous montrant un lieu ou la terre plus exhaussee 6tait ggalement
couverte d'herbe, il nous dit: 'C'est la. Voila l'unique reste du monument.'
L'inscription mise par Lape'rouse a disparu. Un enclos ou Lape'rouse fit semer
des legumes existe toujours, il a conserve' le nom de Jardin francais. n est
entour6 d'une haie, mais le dedans est presque inculte; quelques legumes
sauvds par le d&achement y penrent faute d'eau. Nous cherchames en vain une
fleur dans ce terrain d'environ 300 pas de [sic] tour; tout 6tait sec et brute. On
nous dit que le gouverneur Macquarie avait eu 1'intention de faire dans ce lieu
un beau jardin en lui conservant son nom. Nous primes congd du caporal, et
l'idee nous vint de retourner au tombeau du Pere Receveur. n y avait i cdt£ un
dnorme eucalyptus qui l'ombrageait de ses rameaux. Nous gravames dessus
44.
profonddment: 'Presde cet arbrereposent les cendresdu pere Receveur, visiti
en mars 1824'." See Bellec, pp. 37-38.
This excerpt is part of Hyacinthe de Bougainville's "Notes personnelles.
Notes de'tachees sur Port Jackson", held in the Bougainville Private Archives
deposited at the Archives Nationales, Paris, 155AP12, in the fifth of five note
books. A photocopy of this excerpt from the unpublished original French manu
script was kindly provided by Professor M. S. Riviere, the editor and translator
of Bougainville's several accounts of his stay in New South Wales. See his The
Governor's Noble Guest: Hyacinthe de Bougainville's Account ofPort Jackson,
1825, Melbourne, Miegunyah Press, 1999. ("L'emplacement choisi par M. de
40
Ivan Barko
Laperouse pour etablir son camp et y construire de nouvelles embarcations,
est un plateau decouvert, llgerement incline vers le rivage; on distingue encore
'
les traces du fossd dont furent entourees les palissades destinies a prot£ger
les travailleurs contre les attaques des naturels. Au pied de ce plateau, la cdte
dessine une petite anse dont la plage sablonneuse offre un ddbarquement facile;
au Nord, a trois cent pas de distance, on entrevoit au travers des arbres une
tourelle gothique qui sen de corps de garde au petit d&achement charge de la
surveillance de la baie.") Another shorter and less explicit description of the
Botany Bay site was published by Hyacinthe de Bougainville in his Journal de
la navigation autour du globe de la frigate la Thitis et de la corvette I'Espirance pendant les armies 1824, 1825 et 1826: publii par ordre du roi, sous
les auspices du Dipartement de la Marine, Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1837, I,
p. 527.
43.
Op. cit.
46.
See Bellec, pp. 40-42.
47.
Myra Stanbury and Jeremy Green, eds, Lapirouse and the Loss of the Astro
labe and the Boussole (1788): Reports of the 1986 and 1990 Investigations of
the Shipwrecks at Vanikoro, Solomon Islands, Fremantle, Australian Institute
for Maritime Archeology, 2004.
48.
Association Salomon, Lapirouse a Vanikoro. Risutats des demieres recherches
Franco-Salomonaises awe ties Santa Cruz, Rapport de la campagne Vanikoro
1999, [Noumea], Institut de recherches pour le developpement, n.d.
49.
A separate study on this subject is currently in preparation. Its principal author
is Doug Morrison. This section merely foreshadows its purpose and scope.
50.
Lalande, p. 686. ("Nous espfirions, pour l'ann£e 1790, le retour de La P6-
rouse, dont le voyage autour du monde devait procurer a l'astrcraomie de nou
velles connaissances par les observations de d'Agelet: par exemple, les obser
vations du pendule dans l'hfimisphere austral, que je lui avais spteialement
recommandees, et qu'il me mandait avoir faites dans la nouvelle Hollande,
pouvaient nous apprendre s'il y a une difference de density entre les deux
hdmispheres du globe terrestre; mais ces observations sont perdues. n m'&rivit
qu'il avait trouve a la baie Botanique un astronome anglais, muni d'instrumens
et se preparant a faire beaucoup d'observations, et nous aurons peut-£tre la
satisfaction de correspondre avec nos antipodes.")
51.
52.
Lalande, p. 707.
Letter to Prevost from Botany Bay, 5 February 1788. ("SongeVvous que le
terme ou doit [sic] finir nos voyages s'approche et qu'il est possible que nous
soyons ensemble vers la fin de cette annde? e'est alors settlement que nous
parlerons de voyages, e'est une matiere tees agr£able a discuter au coin du
feu".)
53.
On 22 March 2008, for the first time since Dagelet's death in 1788, descen
dants of the Lepaute family gathered in Paris to remember and celebrate his
memory. The reunion was organized by Claude Parent, a most enthusiastic
biographer and champion of Lepaute Dagelet.